With digitalization making the world a platform for individuals to showcase their talent, there has been a dearth of earning opportunities for these passion-driven people. Thankfully, Erskine “Chuck” Faush has stepped in to close this gap again with his ambitious 250X2025 campaign. Erskine “Chuck” Faush is a multifaceted individual with a wealth of knowledge and an impressive background.
As a true renaissance man, Faush is on a mission to make a meaningful impact on the lives of aspiring talents across industries, matchmaking tech, talent and culture. Having completed Phase 1 of a $1M effort of awarding and empowering HBCU students and institutions with Think Big pitch competition scholarships and grants, he’s unveiling his new mission, the groundbreaking “emagineers 250X2025 cohort”. The project’s goal is twofold: securing 250 internships for creators, innovators, and disruptors, leading to jobs with a $100K salary tag by 2025. This is impressive because, as simple math shows, these high-caliber roles will yield a staggering $250M in earnings and economic impact over a decade.
The next phase makes some truly transformational promises. This also highlights the pivotal roles he played throughout his life in both public and private roles. From his tenure as the former president of Summit Media Entertainment, producing national localized programming and initiatives, to a senior city official in Birmingham, Faush has been a transformational force in media and governance.
One of the remarkable chapters in Faush’s career was his role as the Chief of Staff to Birmingham Mayor William Bell, spearheading the 50 Years Forward multi-city Civil Rights anniversary campaign, resulting in Birmingham receiving a Presidential National Monument designation. This shows his caliber in bringing people together to achieve remarkable goals. Then there was the “Infrastructure Innovation and Inclusion” campaign he helped develop in collaboration with then President of US CONF MAYORS and now Senior Advisor to President Biden, Steven Benjamin and most recently, “Pembroke Strong” in which his team received the Silver and Bronze Awards from the International Economic Development Council.
His accomplishments align with his father’s contributions as he became an ordained Elder in the AME Zion Church. He has been credited with advancing talk formats that deliver entertainment and faith as a co-producer and host of BET Networks’ nContrast and Inspiration Network’s Epiphany. His ability to grow people and places is through collaboration. “Every touchpoint in my journey has and is one of connected values to see the possibilities, garner resources and tell the story.”
Faush is making a significant effort to match upcoming talents across industries. It is an initiative set out to secure 250 internships, which is expected to lead to $100,000 jobs by 2025. These jobs are aligned for gifted talents like creators, innovators, and disruptors across various sectors, including media, technology, and economic development.
The impact of this campaign will be truly transformational as it aims to generate a staggering $250 million in earnings impact output over the next decade. These “emagineers,” as Faush puts it, exemplifies Faush as a visionary who is not just creating jobs but also nurturing talents and fostering innovation in various industries. Through this campaign, he aspires to empower passion-driven individuals to reach their full potential while contributing to the growth of different industries and communities.
He is introducing AI smart interview career builders to make the job searching process more advanced for aspiring talents. This shows Faush as a producer of possibilities and not just another campaigner. The goal of 250X2025 is to matchmake mentors and mentees in a see who you can be campaign that starts at an internship and moves to a job and ends with an incredible career of giving back and paying forward. He’s inviting both job givers and job seekers to join the movement.
The announcement at Smart City NYC is the launch of the HBCU Research & Policy Institute (RPI) focused on Ready, the intelligent interview. Ready for students is a an exercise that measures and aligns their talents, skills with industry, sectors and businesses. For companies, Ready prioritizes talent, reduces bias and increases fairness and ensures next year is the next job – career placement. As well, our large language model (“LLM”) tool, trained with additional African American content for use by students is called Latimer built to arm students with intelligence and agility beyond “search”, while minimizing risk and mitigating bias and data deficiencies of black and brown historical events.
His vision, passion, and commitment will fuel this campaign, not just promising jobs but a brighter and innovative future for talents globally.
